![]() But there's more mundane greed here, too: the greed of not tipping the delivery driver well. It's the greed of coronavirus testing and remedy scams, pitches of pills, salt, and toothpaste as false cures. This is the greed of the Tennessee brothers who collected 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer in their garage in early March, intending to sell it to the desperate at an exorbitant markup. Sicker, then, is the greed of advantage and fraud, both of which have taken the pandemic as occasion to flourish. The hoarder doesn't think of how his greed harms others, only how it benefits himself. There is a greed in hoarding, but of a simple, self-centered sort. Though it's often an element of gluttony, greed is its own sin, too. Gluttony is as well the ever-present temptation of unlimited entertainment, as our use of "binge" has long confessed. ![]() The gluttony of some thus constricted fulfillment of others' legitimately greater needs. The toilet paper hoarding was nothing if not gluttonous, so too any buying behavior that prompted stores to assert purchase limits. Its province is not only food: Gluttony can entail selfish and wasteful over-consumption of any kind. Gluttony sprang up as soon as distancing rules were announced. Take gluttony, the first sin of seven nipping at our heels. I saw in each a way we're stumbling, a way the pressures of pandemic have us cornered for the bite. This week, I happened to reread the list of seven deadly sins, a traditional (though not directly scriptural) Christian categorization of vices. The hunt is on even in the best of times, and in this pandemic, we prey are flagging in the chase. "Discipline yourselves, keep alert," advises the Apostle Peter millennia later, for "Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour." "in is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it," God warns Cain a verse before he murders his brother Abel. The Bible speaks of sin in many metaphors - fire, worm, poison, refuse - but among its most vivid is the picture of evil as a predatory beast.
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